Scottish Executive

Asylum Seekers

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is its policy to deny a child resident in Scotland looked-after status when it has been granted leave to remain in the country under asylum and immigration legislation.

Euan Robson: No such policy exists.

Cancer

Marlyn Glen (North East Scotland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what the number and rates of deaths from cancer have been in (a) Dundee, (b) Tayside and (c) Scotland in each year since 1999, expressed also as an index with 1999 as the base year.

Hugh Henry: The information requested is given in the following table:

  Deaths from Cancer1

  

 
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003


Dundee
 


Number
457
487
484
470
491


Rate per 100,000 population
309
332
333
326
343


Index (Number in 1999 = 100)
100
107
106
103
107


Tayside
 


Number
1,199
1,236
1,227
1,222
1,227


Rate per 100,000 population
305
317
316
315
317


Index (Number in 1999 = 100)
100
103
102
102
102


Scotland
 


Number
14,789
14,958
15,196
15,051
15,116


Rate per 100,000 population
292
295
300
298
299


Index (Number in 1999 = 100)
100
101
103
102
102



  Notes:

  1. 1999: International Classification of Diseases, 9th Revision, codes 140 - 208, malignant neoplasms.

  2. 2000-03: International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision, codes C00 - C97, malignant neoplasms.

Census

Donald Gorrie (Central Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive how many requests it has received from people aged over 93 who do not want family historians to know their details as stated in the Scottish 1911 census records until the records are 100 years old.

Hugh Henry: The Executive has received no such requests from persons aged over 93.

Central Heating

Richard Lochhead (North East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many deaths as a result of cold temperatures there were in each of the last five years, broken down by NHS board area and giving the percentage change on a year-on-year basis.

Hugh Henry: The information requested on numbers of deaths is given in the following table. Because of the small numbers involved, year-on-year percentage changes have not been presented.

  Deaths Resulting from Low Temperatures1 

  

Health Board Area
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003


Scotland
31
28
34
33
23


Argyll and Clyde
5
-
4
1
2


Ayrshire and Arran
-
3
-
3
-


Borders
1
-
-
-
-


Dumfries and Galloway
1
2
-
-
1


Fife
-
-
1
2
-


Forth Valley
1
1
1
1
-


Grampian
2
-
3
3
2


Greater Glasgow
9
7
16
13
8


Highland
-
-
-
2
-


Lanarkshire
5
-
2
2
2


Lothian
4
9
3
4
6


Orkney
-
-
-
-
-


Shetland
-
-
-
-
-


Tayside
1
5
3
2
1


Western Isles
2
1
1
-
1



  Note:

  1. 1999: International Classification of Diseases, 9th Revision, code E901, deaths from

  excessive cold (excl. E901.1, excessive cold of manmade origin).

  2. 2000-03: International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision, code X31, exposure to excessive natural cold.

Public Appointments

Bill Aitken (Glasgow) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what advice is given to ministers regarding acting as referees on behalf of applicants applying for public positions.

Tavish Scott: There is no specific guidance or central source of advice to ministers regarding acting as referees on behalf of applicants applying for public positions.

School Trips

Phil Gallie (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the First Minister whether there is a role for parents in accompanying and supervising school excursion groups and, if so, how important that role is.

Mr Jack McConnell: This will depend on the nature of the activities involved in particular excursions, but there is no doubt that there will be activities in which parents can have a valuable role to play in helping the staff who are in charge of the pupils.

Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body

Parliament Building

Campbell Martin (West of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what the total cost was of the security wall that runs between the MSP block at Holyrood and the private residential accommodation off Reid's Close; whether the security wall would have any effect in stopping an attack on the Parliament launched from any floor of the residential accommodation that is higher than the wall; whether the land on which the residential properties are built was originally part of the Holyrood site and, if so, whether the decision to sell the land and allow construction of residential accommodation so close to, and overlooking, Holyrood has made the Parliament more or less secure from attack.

George Reid: The exact cost of the Reid’s Close section of the boundary wall is not readily available, as it forms part of a larger works package, but the latest estimated cost we have to hand is £374,000, excluding VAT.

  It would not be prudent to comment on the effectiveness of the Reid’s Close security wall.

  The land which the residential accommodation off Reid’s Close occupies was never part of the new Scottish Parliament building site and has never been in the ownership of the Scottish Parliament, the Scottish Office or the Scottish Executive.